Authors

  1. Carrington, Jane M. PhD, RN
  2. Tiase, Victoria L. MSN, RN
  3. Estrada, Nicolette PhD, RN
  4. Shea, Kimberly D. PhD, RN

Abstract

The Nursing Informatics Year in Review 2013 revealed an increase in publications associated with nursing education. Specifically, the articles addressed technology in nursing curricula, use of technology to teach nursing education, and use of technology to form collaborative relationships. In this article we present questions such as: how do these programs assist student nurses to transition to nurse providers where technology is infused into their work and workflow and what is the influence of the collaborative relationships with nurse educators, administrators, and informatics specialists increase patient safety and quality.

 

Article Content

THE FORCES of change in our nation's delivery of health care and the push for technology to accompany these changes have highlighted the importance of informatics. The impact is evident and represented in results from 2 nursing informatics systematic literature reviews. A systematic literature review was completed in 20121 and repeated in 2013, using "nursing informatics" and "informatics" as key search terms and limiting the results to "research" that identified a nurse as the first author. The aim of each review was to examine the state of the science of nursing informatics based on a retrospective review of the past year of nursing informatics publications. The ultimate goal was to showcase the scope and variety of nursing research published in the past year.

 

The full description of the 2013 review will be presented in a future publication. The most intriguing difference between the 2 searches is the increase in articles describing both techniques for teaching students to use technology and methods for using technology to enhance learning. The number of articles categorized with a subject area of education and research setting indicated as school, hospital, or online impressively doubled from 2012 to 2013.

 

The articles that emerged included the incorporation of technology in nursing curricula,2-4 use of technology to teach nursing courses,5-14 and methods for forging collaboration and partnerships.15,16 Arguably, these articles, and the work that inspired them, reflect both mastery and creativity in using technology for education. We contend that this work was the result of the push by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing and the publication of the DNP and baccalaureate essentials for nursing education. Within the aforementioned essentials, information systems/technology and patient care technology to improve patient outcomes were included.17,18

 

Nursing administrators, educators, and informatics specialists together can build on this work by exploring the transition of graduate nurses into a technology-rich health care environment. Specifically, we need to ask how adept graduate nurses are with the use of health care technology to increase patient safety and quality care. We call on nursing administrators to work with nurse educators to achieve and maximize collaboration toward the infusion of technology into practice. This needs to occur in a meaningful way that increases patient safety and quality. We applaud the inclusion of a nursing informatics expert with this collaboration.

 

We intend to continue performing a review of the literature associated with nursing informatics and informatics every year. Reviewing the literature each year reveals subtle changes and influences in the state of the science of nursing informatics. In 2013, there was am emergence of literature describing curriculum changes, methods of teaching, and collaboration using technology. There is evidence that educators are working to meet the demand for graduate nurses and advance practice nurses so that they can become proficient users of health care technology. We urge educators to continue to publish the results of their innovative approaches as well as to take action to increase collaboration with nursing administrators.

 

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18. The American Association of Colleges and Nursing. The Essentials of Doctoral Education for Advanced Nursing Practice. Washington, DC: The American Association of Colleges and Nursing; 2006. [Context Link]

 

informatics; nursing administration; nursing education; nursing informatics